Google Maps: Why would Google remove the name “Persian Gulf” from Google Maps?
It seems that Google removed the name “Persian Gulf” from Google Maps without any explanation. It may be caused from some negotiation between Arabs and Iranians about the name. Arabs say the name should be “Arabian Gulf”, but Persians and almost all history books and maps say it should be “Persian Gulf”.
And the strange thing is that Google decided to remove the name from its map!
Persian Gulf on Google Map: http://g.co/maps/fn6h4
Persian Gulf on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/w
Persian Gulf: http://www.where-is-iran.
John Burgess, Former US Foreign Service Officer, wi…
This is a non-issue. If you go to Google Maps (at least from the US) and enter ‘Persian Gulf’, you get what is shown in the link above, i.e., a map of the Gulf. If you enter ‘Arabian Gulf’, you get nothing but suggestions to look for ‘Persian Gulf’.
If anything, this is likely an attempt on the part of Google to avoid map hassles. It already has to tip-toe around political sensitivities concerning borders and it’s far easier to elide the problem by not placing labels.